Jinchuuriki Tales
by Himizu
Summary: There were many untold stories, as many as there are people in the world. Only the big events are those recorded by history. Here are the tales of the little things, that sometimes end up just as important. No Pairings so far Warning: Fan-fanfiction
1. Tale 1: Kyuubi

Okay, Hey there folks. I'm not actually dead, sorry to disappoint. This would be more of a .... fan-fan-fiction than anything else, of a friend of mine's. We did technically write it together, and thus I have semi-rights to it. Since I have little better to do with my time at the moment, I've written a few of these little collections of stories. They're not all done yet, but hopefully one day they'll all be up here. It's really just to help me flesh out the characters and give them more of a backstory.

We'll be going backwards, and ironically, this is the latest story I've written, since I randomly started with Sanbi (yeah wtf). Also, none of these jinchuuriki are actually the newly released official ones that Kishimoto drew, sorry. Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

**The Nine Tales of Uzumaki Naruto**

_Ichibi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Gaara was to be very, very afraid.

The guy exuded killing intent by the bucket full! Cool, calm and collected, but with a genuine authority behind every word he spoke. To be perfectly honest, he scared the shit out of him. He was sweating like a pig on fire. Or like Hokage-jiji when he had found his porn collection. And when teal eyes had locked on to blue, the blond had felt like the world had just disappeared from under him. It felt like an eternity had passed in a second of staring at the boy who couldn't be any older than he was, whom he had never met before, but felt so very familiar and yet so very wrong.

It would be a week and a half later that he would recognize where he had seen those eyes before.

One doesn't forget their reflection in the mirror very quickly.

But it would be a whole month later before Naruto would actually get a chance to properly introduce himself.

"Hey, Gaara! Remember me? Haha, of course you do! No-one can forget the great Uzumaki Naruto!" of course, they were on first name terms by now, having beaten the snot out of each other for the whole of two hours the day before. It's not like the sand sibs actually had a proper family name anyway. But when Kankuro and Temari went rigid at the total lack of respect and the proximity of the Konoha Nin, Naruto just sent them a blinding fox grin, before then proceeding to chatter endlessly at Gaara. To his credit, the red head was a little stunned to say the least, so his first reaction was repressed. All he could do was nod and grunt when the conversation, if one could call it that, turned to him for a reaction. It lasted for half an hour, with the older siblings growing more and more amazed at this tiny, weak looking kid's ability to completely suppress the mad demon that was Gaara.

It wasn't until a sheepish looking Kakashi restrained his student and dragged him back to his terrified looking peers, that the Sand Siblings, one and all, were free to actually walk out of the Konoha gates. One within range, Sakura proceeded to clock the blond hard enough to send his face into the pavement, whereas Sasuke merely glared at the red headed jinchuuriki. Gaara, once again shocking his brother and sister to the point of cardiac arrest, simply stared back, nonplussed.

When Gaara finally got back to the Sand village, after not killing a single thing the whole way, walking in total silence while apparently in deep thought, he sat in his room, devoid of anything that would make it seem like a normal person's room, for example a bed, and pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh..." he said quietly to himself, staring at the address scribbled hastily down.

Well, there was nothing much else to do at night, beyond read.

Killing, as he told Shukaku firmly, which Naruto had encouraged him to do, was completely out of the question from now on. Blocking out the outraged cries of the demon, he picked up his pen and stared at the piece of paper.

It was the beginning of a somewhat macabre, but beautiful friendship.

Or so they would say, on pain of death, because heaven forbid that you even mention that Naruto or Gaara are anything more or less than what they are.

_Niibi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Nii Yugito was to stare very long and hard at this very pretty blond girl standing before him.

Naruto's second reaction was that said girl had a very good left hook.

Blinking the stars from his eyes and pondering how they could have appeared during what was obviously the middle of the day, the blond haired jinchuuriki lay flat on his back in his apartment, and began to wonder why such a pretty and strong girl was standing in his doorway, which didn't shut properly after all the times Sakura-chan had kicked it open. When a familiar face peeked around the corner, Naruto knew he had been hit pretty hard.

After all, how could Ero-sennin be standing within ten feet of a girl and not be eying her up?

"Hey kid, I'm going to be busy for a while, so thanks to a few new friends of mine, I've got you a new tutor." he grinned, eyes flickering to the blank faced beauty, then grinning perversely. Ah, so it wasn't the end of the world then. Not long after this revelation sunk in, so did Jiraya's words.

"Wait, what?!" the thirteen year old yelped, leaping to his feet. The girl scowled at him.

"Not good enough for you, shrimpy?" came the cold words. Naruto fumed.

"I'm not a shrimp!" he protested, glaring but still managing to be completely unintimidating. The girl, whom had the most curious blue-grey eyes, slanted like a cat's, raised a delicate eyebrow at him.

"Oh really?" she stepped through the door, proving with this simple action that she was indeed a head taller than Naruto. Blue eyes glared at the taller girl, while his mouth worked to bring out a counter.

"Well, I'll grow one day!" he claimed loudly. He was then bopped on the head hard enough to send him sprawling on the floor again. Jiraya must have chosen this moment to tactfully escape, as the next time Naruto looked up, his white haired teacher was gone. "Hey!" he growled as his assailant drifted gracefully past him. She pushed some old washing from his sofa onto the floor and sat down with the same amount of dignity and poise she had used to give him what would probably be a shiner tomorrow.

"Sure you will, midget," she continued, casting cursory looks round the small apartment, wrinkling her nose at a pile of underwear in the corner. "But before you do that, you need to train, and subsequently get stronger."

"Subse-what?" the blond blinked at he got to his feet for the second time. He shook his head. "Look, I have no idea who you are, but if Ero-sennin says you're good enough to train me, then I guess that's okay." he pouted slightly. "Still, I wish he'd be less busy and _actually_ bother to train me."

"Yugito." the girl said suddenly. Naruto blinked again.

"Huh?" was his intelligent response.

"Nii Yugito. It's my name." she gave him a pointed look. "You said you didn't know who I was, and I just told you." her eyes traveled to stare out his dirty but large window. "Also, your "ero-sennin" is trying to find ways to keep you safe. If that is more important to him than training you to keep yourself safe... then that is his method." those grey, endless orbs traveled back to him again. "While I respect Jiraya-san as a ninja, I do not agree with his technique for keeping you alive." she got up again, sauntering over to him. She really was taller than him, easily towering over him imposingly. "So, as he has handed your training over to me, we will be doing things my way." she smirked. Naruto felt a chill go down his spine.

"Er... which way is that?" he said, silently proud of not stuttering in his tone, despite the jitters he had suddenly gained. Yugito's grin still widened.

"We make you stronger, so you don't need protecting. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." a dangerous gleam entered her story grey eyes. "Unfortunately for you, we have no time to do the easy way, so off to the hard way we go."

Naruto would later count the days and weeks following as some of the best and worst days of his life post-Sasuke (as he had come to call it). They were the best because he finally began to realize that not ever jinchuuriki's life had to be full of sorrow if they stuck together. They were the worst because Yugito had decided to train him into the ground on the control and usage of his demon, so hard that he'd simply collapse on his bed at the end of the day and, with only one final command to Kyuubi to heal all his fractures and bruises, fall unconscious.

But he wouldn't have traded it for all the ramen the world.

_Sanbi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Aoiyama Uotatsu was that he was just like every other little rich kid he had met; a little brat that needed some discipline.

Imi and Yugito introduced the two boys at the brand new headquarters. The catlike girl warned Naruto beforehand that Uotatsu could be very childish, and scowled a little at a memory. Imi had given her partner an upset look, then told Naruto to be nice to him, or she'd beat the crap out of the both of them. This was said with a smile, which Naruto had learned could be more of a sign of danger than any scowl.

All the same, it was all Naruto could do not to strangle the little brat where he stood. The condescending look he was just given was really pissing him off.

But that was probably a bad idea. If one applied the blond haired jinchuuriki's earlier idea that smiles meant people were dangerous, then the woman standing behind Uotatsu was probably the most dangerous person on the planet. Never mind the fact that he had a nagging feeling that he had seen her somewhere before.

"So!" Imi said cheerfully, attempting to ease the tense atmosphere created by the two demon containers staring each other down. "Ameko, Uotatsu, this is Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Kyuubi. Naruto, the tall woman is Ameko, and the boy is Aoiyama Uotatsu, container of the Sanbi. You guys play nice now! I need to go buy more oranges for Shan!" and with that, the dark haired girl stepped through a wall. It always unnerved Naruto when she did that.

"Er, hi." he said into the ensuing silence. Ameko beamed at him all the more, while Uotatsu's eyebrows came closer together, if that was even possible. "So, um, are you staying here in the base or do you guys own a house?" it was the first think he could think of. Thankfully, Ameko was nice enough to save him from his floundering.

"Yep, we'll be staying here. We've been hobos for the past months." at this Uotatsu spluttered, apparently not wanting to lower himself to the level of a homeless person. Naruto inwardly growled. Stuck up little- "Will you be staying here, Naruto-kun?" he tried to ignore the sudden feeling of being punched in the gut at her words. For some reason, and he could not wrack his brain enough to figure out why, when she said his name it... nah, she was nothing like him. Too happy, not pale enough... though the hair...

"Are you staring for a reason, or is your brain not advanced enough for you to blink without thinking about it?" Uotatsu suddenly said, waspishly. Naruto's eye twitched in suppressed irritation. "Ohh, that was close, try again." Naruto shut his eyes and tried to calm the quaking of suppressed rage in his body. "Aw, he's stuck. Poor pathetic thing."

Ameko, to her credit, was very fast; to be able to catch a semi-Kyuubi powered punch aimed for Uotatsu's smug little face took some doing. (A look that soon was replaced by a scowl when Ameko smacked him on the back of the head with her free hand.) Pushing Naruto's fist lightly to the side, she smiled (not that her expression had changed) at both the boys before calmly walking off as though nothing had happened within that short second of time.

"Ow." they both said in unison, sulking and not really listening to Ameko's breezy "wait here" command. Whipping their heads around, they glared at each other, and then stuck their tongues out at the same time.

"Keep those in your mouth if you want to taste your next meal." said Ameko cheerfully as she walked back into the room with a small cucumber. Both boys quickly sucked their tongues back in, Uotatsu huffily trailing out of the room after her and the cucumber.

Naruto would hide a smile. At least the brat wasn't alone.

_Yonbi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Eichi was that he had actually done the impossible. Twice.

Firstly, he had found someone older than Hokage-jiji had been. Naruto had NEVER met anyone older than Hokage-jiji, sans several demons. It seemed impossible. You just didn't get any older than Hokage-jiji was.

Secondly, he had found someone more perverse than Jiraya, Kakashi-sensei and Ebisu-the-Closet-Pervert.

Combined.

It really did take a lot to turn Naruto's face red these days, having being raised around so much vulgarity. But the innuendos that Eichi was spouting would have probably killed any other person due to blood loss from the nose. Naruto thanked his rarely lucky stars that he had become vaguely immune to such things. Over his period of time with Jiraya, he had been exposed to many things that even most adults would find offensive. Naruto just accepted them as part of his weird and wacky life.

But he was still thankful when that old man's "caretaker", even if he was easily a fifth of his age, smacked him hard enough in the head to send him into the pavement. With a little smirk (toomuchlikeSasuketoomuch), he then planted a foot on between the old man's shoulder blades.

"Why don't we take a break to look at something cleaner. Like this dirt." he stated plainly, though not a little smugly. If Naruto remembered correctly, this guy's name was Kami. Geez, a name like that would make anyone bigheaded. Eichi was mumbling something about brats with big heads and feet just as he thought this. Kami's eye twitched, his wings (seriously, wings? And he had thought that Kaguya guy's bone blood limit was weird) flapping slightly in irritation. Before the blond haired jinchuuriki could even blink, Kami had Eichi by the back of his shirt and, with an angered growl, threw him into the nearest wall. Considering they were inside the base, this was not entirely a good idea. The walls shook upon the impact, the concrete splintering and cracking like a spiders web.

Eichi, spread-eagled and indented into the wall about a foot off the ground, opened his eyes and grinned devilishly. Naruto swallowed. This would get ugly. And things did, but not in the way Naruto was expecting.

"MY BASE!" came the sudden screech from the patio door. All eyes turned to Imi, looking murderous. Naruto backed away. She was almost as scary as Sakura when she was angry. Almost. Plus the fact that her back was to the kitchen, the most dangerous place in the house, which made her even more frightening. Her amber eyes swung from him, to Eichi looking innocent as possible, and then to Kami, who has quirked an eyebrow at her. Naruto was about to warn him to lower it when Kami disappeared. Further inspection would find him on the floor, Imi attempting to strangle him.

"Ohh, Jiraya-kun would love this." The yonbi jinchuuriki commented. "Great sexual tension material for his book!" Eichi grinned. The two younger shinobi blinked at him, and then examined their position. Imi was straddling Kami's hips, and Kami in his struggle, kept moving them.

Two sets of murderous eyes fell on Eichi for the very implication. The old man just kept grinning at them.

Suddenly on their feet, they both stalked towards him. Naruto was busy making himself wallpaper. Not easy for one who arbitrarily wears orange.

How Eichi managed to survive the following beating, he would never know. The fact the elderly man took it all with an infuriating grin also surprised Naruto.

The discovery of the same man's tormented past, however, shocked him to the core.

When people asked why his smile had gained in wattage, Naruto would shake his head and reply, with a sad and knowing smile…

"It could have been so much worse"

The topic is hastily changed at this point.

_Gobi_

Naruto's first impression of Inuhi was that he had finally found someone as willing to be happy as he was. He couldn't tell you how much of a relief this was. But there was a bit of a downer to this revelation.

And that was she had an inverse image of her standing right next to her.

It was unnerving actually. They had to be related. Surely. You just didn't look so identical without being brother or sister or something. And so, in typical Naruto fashion, he blurted out the first thing on his mind. It was important, really!

"Are you a girl?" his question was directed at the one with straighter hair, less spiky than the jinchuuriki's. Later reflection on the memory would leave him both cringing at his lack of tact and also snickering at the look on their faces.

"Pardon." Came the slightly shell shocked reply. Naruto blinked. Male voice. Whoops. Crap.

"Uh, never mind." He hastily said, quickly changing topic, switching his attention to the other jinchuuriki. "Nice hair you have there." He grinned. But instead, Inuhi made a funny little yelping sound and clamped her hands over the two spiky clumps of hair that stuck up at right angles to her head. Now Naruto was receiving an icy glare from the other one. Oh, what the heck!? This was going to hell in a hand-basket. The effeminate boy growled menacingly, but Inuhi gently placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Mitsuke," she said, sounding tired. Identical ice blue eyes locked, and an entire conversation was relayed in the space of a second. "It's fine." She turned to grin sheepishly at Naruto. "Sorry about that, I get a bit… self-conscious about my hair." Naruto carefully returned the smile; still worried about the warning glare he was receiving from Mitsuke. Inuhi followed his eye line, and then frowned. "He won't spontaneously combust no matter how much you will it, Mi-chan." Mitsuke suddenly choked on air and turned to stare at her with open fear.

It was with good reason.

"Mi-chan?" Naruto giggled, attempting to hide it behind his hand. Almost upon queue, as if she had been waiting for it, Ameko popped up out of nowhere.

"Yes, Mi-chan," she grinned even wider than usual, showing off rows of pearly white teeth, leaning towards her prey. The blue haired boy backed away faster and with more emotion on his face than Naruto had seen… ever. "Hey there Mi-chan" the dark haired girl drew the name out, long and song-like, her somewhat evil smile becoming more and more pronounced with each syllable. "Do you want to go shopping with Inuhi and me again, Mi-chaaaaan?" At this point, Naruto felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees. Inuhi blinked, blue orbs showing confusion, of not a tiny bit of amusement.

Mitsuke's darker eyes were wide and frantic, like that of a trapped animal, darting everywhere but Ameko's face. "I, um, er." He stuttered, his eyes swinging to Naruto, pleading with him for help.

Oh ho ho ho…

The tables had turned.

Naruto grinned himself, though it paled in comparison to the Rice Country girl's predatory leer. "Oh, Mi-chan!" he snickered at the name. "I think you would look just _stunning_ in a pink dress, wouldn't you say so Ameko?" Mitsuke was sweating bullets, pressed against the wall of the small dojo of the rebel base like he wanted nothing more than to meld with the wall. To bad he wasn't Imi, and could not do that.

Ameko and Naruto advanced on the poor boy. Closer and closer, Mitsuke's eyes growing impossibly wide at each step. The tension in the air rose, until…

Ding-dong!

Mitsuke took off running for the doorbell faster than Naruto had ever seen anyone go. Even Lee would have found his speed challenging. But then, it was the speed of a desperate man. Naruto wasn't surprised that, just like in the cartoons, there was a small, Mitsuke shaped cloud of dust where the boy had previously been.

Inuhi just laughed and laughed. "That's the most fun I've seen him have in ages!" she cried, wiping tears from her eyes.

Naruto would muse after that it was the first time he had met a guardian with a more depressing history than their jinchuuriki.

_Rokubi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Shan was that the world was a very cruel place indeed.

To make such a small child, such an innocent party, into a jinchuuriki, a vessel for a demon, he began to wonder if there was any justice.

And he wondered if anyone had ever thought that about her before. About any of the before.

Shan's big, earthy eyes stared up at him from under dual coloured hair, containing more wisdom and understanding than any child her age ever should. It was raining, and Naruto had just received the news that Sasuke wasn't going to come back, even if he had taken out Orochimaru, because he had to find his brother first. This single hope, that if the snake sannin was gone, his best friend would return, had been shattered brutally, cruelly. The back veranda of the house, the small inn where he, Shan and Arisa were staying, provided little shelter from the driving rain as it blew sideways into his face. Shan was standing in the mud of the small, sodden back garden, Naruto with his legs dangling off the side of the wooden walkway as the rain disguised his frustrated tears.

He and Shan had never properly met. He had heard of her from Yugito, seen her bent over towering stacks of paper in the Hokage's office the day before, but never talked to her. He had been told to meet the two rebels at this inn, surprisingly enough, alone. Arisa had quickly informed him of his purpose, but upon questioning of where the jinchuuriki of the pair was, had been informed she was out exploring.

Apparently not all of that had been above ground, because despite the large quantity of water being thrown down at them from the steely grey clouds above, Shan was so muddy that her clothes had lost any colour except for brown. At first Naruto thought her skin was the same, but then noticed, upon closer inspection, that it was her actual skin colour.

Couldn't get weirder than blue though.

The two stared at each other for a while. There was an odd sort of comprehension in the younger girl's eyes. Slowly, deliberately so, she reached for his wrist, turning his hand so it was palm up, and placed an orange in it.

"Upon analysis of your file and current clothing, I deduce that you like the colour orange." She said, her soft voice barely audible over the rain. The blond haired jinchuuriki stared from the fruit in his hand to the strange little girl. Since when did kids use words like 'deduce'?

"Uh, good guess?" he responded, unsure what to say. He brought his wrist back. "… Thanks." He tried to smile at her, but if felt broken. Shan, though, beamed at him.

"You're welcome. May I join you?" she asked politely. Blue eyes blinked, then he nodded. Instead of sitting on the veranda, however, Shan plopped herself onto the waterlogged ground, mud splashing onto her shorts. She absently drew something in the dirt, which Naruto recognised as numbers. He hopped down off the raised deck, ignoring the wet splash the ground made as his bare feet made contact with it, and tried to read out the number. The little girl wrote fast, he couldn't keep up.

"Three point one four one…" the list went on and on. Naruto frowned. "What're you doing?" he asked, tilting his head and squinting at the ground. Shan blinked big, knowledgeable eyes at him and smiled again. He finger did not stop writing even as she looked away from what she was doing.

"Reciting Pi." She said cheerfully.

"Doesn't look much like a pie to me…" Naruto mumbled. Shan laughed, quiet and kindly.

"Pi is the unending number. There are no doubles, like nine nine, next to each other, and nobody knows how far it goes." Then she smiled wider, and something moved in the depths of those eyes, something frightening. "Apart from me."

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki blinked. "How far does it go?"

"Forever." Shan replied simply, beginning a new line of numbers as her line went slightly beyond her reach. "It is a reassuring thing, Pi."

"It is?" he couldn't see how.

"Yes." Her muddy finger paused, then a childish hand rubbed out the 134 numbers she had written so far. "Is it not a comforting thing, to know that no matter how many twists and turns and dead ends there are in the world, there are some things that go on forever?" Her smile was gone when she looked at him again, but there was something in her eyes, a kind of warmth, that made the blonde boy's spirits lift. "Things like Pi. Like love. Like bonds." At this, Naruto frowned.

"Some bonds aren't forever." But the tiny genius shook her head.

"They don't stay the same, true, but they do stay. They don't just… end." She hesitated, then stood up. "A bond of love can become a bond of hate, a bond of happiness can become a bond of sadness." Her hands went for the hand that still held the orange, raising it up. "And it can go back again." She grinned. "So cheer up! Orange is a happy colour! You're meant to be a happy person, right?"

Maybe the world wasn't so bad, Naruto decided as Arisa ran out and had a huge fit at the state of both of them. If there were little rays of hope like Shan in the world, maybe it wasn't all doom and gloom. His trademark smile found it's place on his face once again, as he laughed heartily, still clutching the orange.

He brings them for Shan every time he visits.

_Shichibi_

Naruto's first impression of Naida was not so much of confusion as it was one of wonder.

Her hair… was the most awesome colour ever.

Naruto stared at the girl with a mouth full of ramen (not all that uncommon an event actually), unsure whether to ask if her hair was naturally that colour of if she was just awesome enough to dye it like that. She really stood out, especially next to her darker haired friends. Well, not enough to overshadow them, they each had something about them that made them interesting. The hooded boy was glaring moodily down at his bowl, like it was poison, or something. Inversely, she girl Naruto was sitting next to was eating with gusto, like it was the best thing on earth, which of course it was.

Naruto's expectant chopsticks met his empty bowl with a resounding "clack".

A short silence followed.

"YOU ATE MY RAMEN!" the blonde boy screeched. All three newcomers jumped. Naruto watched as all of their gazes slowly zeroed in on the dark haired girl with the scarf. Or… was it the scarf they were looking at? Whatever, she was going to pay.

"No I didn't!" she protested, raising her hands placating, shooting a glare out of the corner of her eye at her scarf again. Naruto grabbed it, dragging her outside of the bar.

"YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR EATING _MY RAMEN!_" he roared, glad the street was relatively empty. It would be clear enough once he beat the snot out of her. Yet there she stood, looking thoroughly annoyed but still confident in herself.

A short scuffle later which somehow included multiple shadow clones, impossibly appearing kunai and a kick to a spot on a man's body which should _not_ be kicked, ever, Naruto found himself glaring as the other two dragged their mad friend into a back alley, presumably to talk some sense into her. Naruto, seeking an apology, climbed onto the roof to wait until they were done.

It didn't take long for Naruto to decide that he had been kicked entirely too hard.

The scarf was talking. More than that, it was arguing with the girl wearing it. The other two had a resigned look on their faces like that of two people who had heard the same loop of conversation entirely too much, even though Naruto himself could only catch a word or two. When the orange haired girl appeared to have finally had enough, she whacked both around the head and began to give them a thorough scolding.

And then her voice changed.

Low, foreboding, sending chills down his spine despite the warm Konoha climate, as something deep within him stirred, chuckled, sent a hot red stare out of his own eyes.

_**The shichibi…**_ Naruto heard the demon growl in his mind. With no hesitation, he jumped off the roof, intending to land directly next to the group.

Of course, he missed.

Within the course of the next few hours, he learned many things. One; demons can be sealed into (previously) inanimate objects. Two; hearing other bijuu talk was almost as frightening as having the Kyuubi mutter inside his head twenty-four seven. Three; there are even more people out there with the label jinchuuriki tagged onto them than just him and Gaara, which was a bittersweet revelation indeed. And also four; people really could have hair that colour, naturally and without the assistance of bijuu.

Life was definitely full of amazing things.

_Hachibi_

Naruto's first reaction to meeting Hakkei would likely be the one he would remember the most.

Never before had he stood before a person who could radiate such menace and power… while wearing a pink apron and making breakfast.

Granted, that apron was emblazoned with the words "Shut up I'm still manly", and was clearly a joke gift of some kind, but the point still stood. The only thing that prevented he blonde Konoha boy from breaking down into hysterical fits of laugher was the perfectly calm stare, which somehow contained so much power that the air all around him dropped in temperature instantly. With his long, white-blond hair falling majestically over his shoulders and right down his back, and his golden eyes slitted like a snake's staring at him regally, even the strange clothing couldn't remove the impression that this was someone very powerful…

And somehow frighteningly familiar.

"Hey there fox brat." The man finally smirked, tilting his head up in a mocking way. Naruto snapped out of whatever trance he had been in, and glared fiercely at him.

"Don't call me that, snake bastard." The name slipped out without his notice before he caught himself. The one in question raised a thin blond eyebrow.

"You'd better not talk down to your superiors, kid." He said, an undertone of menace making the other jinchuuriki shiver. But at those words, an unmistakable presence bubbled within him, seething in anger.

"More powerful than you, tail-less fool." Words slipped free of Naruto's control, even as he clamped his hands over his mouth. He forced the Kyuubi's rage back down until it was only a muffled growl in the back of his head. By that time he noticed the other man laughing. Side splitting laughter, his hand braced on the side of the counter as he doubled over.

"Oh man that's rich, Kyuu-kun!" he roared, trying to calm himself. Naruto felt the world fall out from under him, before coming crashing back up again. _Kyuu-kun?!_ He almost fell into hysterics himself, were it not for the suddenly ten times more malevolent presence in the back of his mind. "What do you think I've been doing all these decades, while you've been locked up inside pipsqueak here?" He expertly flipped a pancake, smirking as it hit the pan again with a satisfying sizzle. "Not making pancakes all day, I assure you."

"_Oh I know exactly what you've been doing_" came the indignant growl from inside Naruto's mind. He didn't know how many of those words were making it outside his mouth, but he kept his hands on his lips anyway, concentrating on trying to push the bastard back down. "_You, you little bastard, have been chasing around the continent looking for your precious human woman._" Naruto was so stunned by this sudden revelation that his hold slipped on the bijuu's chakra. It burst outwards in a physical wave, knocking an unfortunate mid-air pancake into the wall. There was a short silence, during which both blue and gold eyes stared as the half baked pancake slid slowly down the tiled kitchen wall.

"That was a waste of a pancake." The older of the two muttered, looking a bit put out. Then a revelation dawned on him. "Oh shit." He paled considerably, going the shade that Naruto usually associated with Orochima-

"MY PANCAKE!" came the distressed cry from the doorway. A plain looking girl stood there, her strange, miss-matched green and blue eyes, the only distinguishing feature, welling up with mortified tears. The long-haired man's face took on a new level of panic.

"I-It wasn't me!" he stuttered, hands raised in defense. "Midget here let off a chakra wave!" Regardless of his pleas, the girl stormed up to him, grabbed his hair and pulled him down so she could get a clear swipe at his head. Several swipes in fact. "Ow- hey- Karen- owch- I mean Sairai!- stop!" He cowered under the beating of her fists, though the blows did not look all that forceful. The girl, Sairai apparently, was not listening to him though, instead grinding out word after word with each hit.

"Don't-call-people-names-Ha-kkei!" she then raised her fist even higher, still not loosing her hold on his hair. "And stop calling me Karen!" she brought it down, this time with force, sending Hakkei face-first into the wooden floor. Dusting her hands off, she grinned at Naruto, who had backed up into the wall with fright. "Hi there, I'm Sairai. Please ignore Hakkei, he'll do anything to get a rise out of someone." Naruto nodded mutely, as Sairai turned to peel her pancake off the wall. She blinked at it, dusted it off, then plopped it on a plate and swept out of the room with a cheery wave and lit up the room with the biggest grin Naruto had seen all month.

After a minute of stunned silence, Hakkei got to his feet, looking completely uninjured and grinning, but not with the same viciousness as before. He stared at the door where she had left.

"You know what, Kyuu-chan?" he said quietly, and Naruto's eyes snapped to him, ignoring the way the demon fox inwardly growled at the nickname "I'd do it all, the banishment, the separation of my tails, the loss, everything. Just to make her smile like that again."

"Kyuubi thinks you're an idiot." Said the blond haired Jinchuuriki. Hakkei blinked, then snorted.

"Yeah, I knew he would." He scratched his head, then tried to smooth out the mess that the incident had made of his hair.

"But I don't." Naruto continued. "I think you're a smart guy." Hakkei stared at him in a mixture between shock and suspicion. "Seriously. People are always stronger if they're fighting for their precious people." He grinned. "Take it from the expert!"

Hakkei snorted, and discarded the apron into the corner.

_Kyuubi_

In the technical sense, the first time that Naruto met Kyuubi, he was a new born of only 12 hours, and thus his first impression was that the giant scary thing was of course going to eat him, which it nearly did, were it not for the timely execution of his father's sealing jutsu.

The first conscious time Naruto met the demon fox, however, was when he was six. Looking back on it now, he almost always is reduced to banging his head on something hard at his naivety and stupidity.

He had been simply wondering around the town one evening, not particularly looking forward to going back to the cold and empty apartment where he was supposedly meant to be at this hour. But it wasn't like orphans had curfew, nor did they have any reason to do anything really. Naruto was proud of that, the fact that everything he did was of his own choice. He wanted to be a ninja, he wanted to look after himself and he wanted to be out in the freezing cold at an hour close to two in the morning. Really.

Today had been a relatively good day. He had swung on his rope in the woods for an hour, climbed trees, messed around with an ant nest (proclaiming himself ant-kage) and fishing in the river (with his bare hands, might he had. He only caught one fish, but by the time he was old enough to impress ladies, he'd be catching them blindfold for sure.) The problem was he was not slightly damp, with lead to him feeling the cold more than usual. But he didn't care; a little cold never hurt anyone.

It didn't, right?

"**You're damn right it does.**" Startled, Naruto looked all around him to see where the deep voice had suddenly come from. He caught his reflection in the shop window, and saw something very strange indeed.

Another him.

This is of course what most would expect of a reflection. But this other Naruto seemed different somehow. No noticeable differences, just giving off an aura of _wrongness_.

"**Get inside right now you little idiot.**" The voice continued, and the blond boy watched in alarm as the reflection's lips moved as his stayed still.

"Wh-who are you!" exclaimed Naruto, glad the place where he was seemed to be empty but for him and his reflection. The apparition snorted and gave Naruto a long suffering look of irritation. Naruto hadn't even known he could make that face.

"**Just think of me as the voice in your head.**" It commented, sounding peeved. Naruto frowned in thought. "**No, I'm not your conscience. That would be twisted, even for you.**" Naruto jumped as the … thing read his thoughts. "**Of course I can read your thoughts, dumb ass, I'm **_**inside your head.**_" He stressed the last bit, like explaining something to a very stupid child, which in a way he was.

"Shut up." Naruto muttered indignantly. The vision chuckled. "Shut up or I'll make you!"

"**I'd like to see you come in here and try.**" Suddenly, a shiver went all the way up Naruto's spine, and he coughed violently. The reflection didn't move, and just stared at him until he had finished.** "See what you've done to yourself. Don't just eat raw fish from the river like that, idiot; that shit's polluted. You've got all wet too; it's all I can do to stop you dropping dead from pneumonia right here. Get your skinny little orange ass home and sit in a warm bath or something.**" The other Naruto ranted. Glaring at his reflection, the real Naruto straightened crossing his arms.

"You can't make me." He retorted childishly. The reflection made another annoyed sound.

"**Believe me brat, I wish I could.**" It grumbled. **"Look, either go home and get some rest, or stay out here until I run out of energy and we both die. It's winter, you little idiot, did the idea not occur to you that even in fire country it gets cold at night in winter?**"

"Die?" Naruto quivered, trying to stave off another coughing fit. If his reflection was right, then he needed to get home. With that he turned on his heel and ran, stopping every now and again to cough up what felt like half a lung. All the way, the reflection ran with him, appearing wherever there was a window, puddle or mirror, chastising him all the more the longer he took to get home.

"Hey, reflection." He asked once he was about three blocks away from his apartment, staring at a broken mirror. His own face refracted oddly, spider cracks making it disjoined and alien. "Are you always gonna be here, looking after me?" the reflection shrugged.

"**I'd love to get the heck out of your puny little body, but due to extenuating circumstances, I can't. So, you die, I die, and I've lived too long for that**." Naruto couldn't understand most of the words, his head was spinning too, but he smiled all the same. He ran through all the streets back to his home, pausing to stare at his reflection on the doorknob. "**I can't talk to you once you're immune system is back up, I'm only here to keep you alive.**" Naruto blinked.

"What?" he asked, unsure of what the words mean and ignoring the reflection's grumbles to turn the knob and get inside already.

"**I mean once you're better, I'm out of here.**" Naruto's hand froze on the way down to the handle.

"You mean, I never get to see you again?" his voice was slightly panicked. The vision shushed him.

"**Not so loud, you wanna be labeled a loony as well as an idiot?**" the other Naruto sighed, crossing his arms behind his head just like the normal Naruto would. "**Look, I'll be here but only when your life is seriously in danger. Don't eat the raw fish again, seriously, and watch out for those eggs too. Look, there's a bloody mirror in the bathroom just get inside already!"** Naruto jumped to attention and practically ran though the doorway. The apartment was warmer than outside, but not by much. Still, he made a beeline for the bathroom, setting the hot tap of full blast. It would take a while for the water to warm up, but then the cold and hot would balance out to make a warm bath. It was one of the first things Naruto had learned when he had started living on his own. He sat on the edge of the sink, so as to have a better view of not-himself.

"You'll… always be there?" he said after a while.

"**As much as I'd simply love not to be, yes.**" The reflection nodded, satisfied now that the bath was filling up. "**You could say we're too closely related for me to leave you now.**"

"We're related?"

"**In a messed up kind of way, yeah."**

"Good." Naruto smiled, slipping his clothes off and easing his cold body into the large bath. Slowly, he sunk into it, letting the feeling return to his limbs and the tightness in his chest ease.

Naruto's first impression of the Kyuubi was this; he was his first family ever.

* * *

Yeeeeeah, I copped out a bit on the endings in a few of those. I just sorta got on a roll and couldn't stop myself, and realized that I would have to somewhere. Oh well.

See you later hopefully!


	2. Tale 2: Hachibi

_Eight things to Loose_

**One: Dignity**

He only fully realized the reason why humans talked in such a bittersweet way about alcohol once he woke up the next morning with _the_ worst headache he had ever had _ever_.

For all he knew, every Tailed Beast from little Shukaku-chan to Kyuubi-sama, all of their underlings and a couple of bull elephant-demons had decided to dance on his brain while he was out, then put it back in his head, but not without pissing on it first.

_Note to self…-s._ He thought, attempting to sit up but failing miserably. _Find some sort of way to destroy every type of alcohol in existence. I heard the stuff burns pretty well anyway._ But then a small, dying piece of logic crawled into his head and reminded him that for one thing, Shu-chan would bitch forever about a lack of sake and then tattle on him to Lucifer, which would be bad. Plus, many souls got damned to hell for stupid things they did while drunk, such as murder and adultery. Very important part of Hell's economy. Another reason for Lucifer to eradicate him. Okay, no elimination of alcohol, just… no more drinking.

Yeah, that would go down well at family gatherings. What kind of demon _abstained _from anything?

He sat up, finally tired of enduring this stupid human pain. With a rush of chakra, his skin suddenly broke out into a sweat of pure ethanol. This meant he now stunk to high hell, but he never really gave a shit about that kind of thing. He spared a glance around him.

Apparently, he was in some sort of seedy hotel room. The wallpaper was peeling, the ceiling cracked and the windows half boarded up. He checked himself. Limbs, check. Hair, check. 'Crown jewels'… check and double check. Further analysis concluded that the mysterious naked woman that he was currently sitting on the futon next to was likely a whore whom he had slept with.

Well, now he definitely wanted a shower. If he wasn't a demon then he would likely have caught a million different diseases by now.

Gross, man, gross.

So, to solve all his problems at once, he simply had a shower ( the bathroom was horrible, typically), woke her up, enjoyed watching her terror as she was killed by him crushing her head with his foot, cursed, washed his foot again (he did not want an _AIDs foot_ of all things) and left the hotel with only a glance to the man behind him.

He smirked as the hotel manager promptly went into cardiac arrest. Now he didn't have to pay.

When did he ever, anyway?

It was another of his on the spot decisions really. He wasn't usually the kind to think things through. Lucifer would often berate him on that topic, as would Kyuubi-sama (why he even bothered with the formalities still for that fox bastard, he did not know) but he rarely gave a damn about anyone's opinion apart from his own.

And there were seven more of him, technically.

Those little voices that told him which stupid villager was about to come up behind him with a rake to stop him from razing their house with their wife and kids inside. The ones that kept a running commentary on every little thing-

Apparently forgot to tell him about the little brat that had just kicked him in the shin.

He glared down, focusing every little ray of killing intent into something of a laser, aiming right between the child's eyes. He could tell from the way the world glowed at the edges that his human form was transforming. Not that he gave a damn, it would just add to the effect.

So why was the little shit not moving?

As far as he could tell, it was a girl, not really having all that much experience with women under the age of 13 (oh come on, he's a demon, does he give a damn about ages?), but her dark hair was tied up into pigtails on the top of her head, her chubby, dirty little face twisted into the nastiest glare she could muster, her eyes almost squeezed shut. Anyone else would call her cute.

He thought her annoying.

He fully released the transformation, feeling his perspective split into eight. He made sure not to step on her; he wanted her to experience the terror of his true form before she died.

She had not budged an inch. She simply craned her neck so that she could glare at all of him.

With his vision now coming in from all angles, and no longer encumbered by his human form, he could clearly see her mismatched eyes; green emerald right and blue sapphire left, staring at him with all the fury a little child could muster.

"Bad boy!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger up at him. All sixteen eyes blinked. And in unison, every head burst into laughter that shook the earth and sky. Still the little girl did not move, in fact she continued; "Time out!"

Before he was even aware of what was going on, before he could even open one mouth to torch the impudent little squirt, he was in a forest.

And he was in human form.

What the crapfuckery was going on?!

Had… had he just been _banished_?!

"**Looked a lot like it, Ha-chama.**" Came a singsong voice from the trees above him. He whirled around to stare at the longhaired woman sat in the branches. Her red locks, somehow defined into seven strands without the use of gel, blew in the warm and gentle breeze. Her clothing, a beautiful silk red kimono, hung loosely on her, her shoulders exposed and, thanks to the way she was sitting, her long legs as well. She would have been beautiful, were it not for the fact that the demon below saw this all through a red haze of hate. "**Heeeey, and wasn't that a **_**little girl**_** was well?**" her hawk-like features only served to make her smirk more obvious. He growled.

"**Shut the fuck up, Shichibi.**" He clenched his fists. The demon above screeched out a birdlike laugh, pulling out a fan from her long sleeve, snapping it open and playing at being coy. It didn't do any wonders for him.

"**Ah, but Hachibi-kun, you know you can't hurt little me.**" Pools of liquid silver stared at him from under long red lashes. He got the chance to view them close up, because in the blink of an eye, he and she were suddenly closer. Standing on the tree trunk, his fingernails had elongated into foot long claws, each one encircling the woman's throat. She didn't move, and only remained smirking. "**That would not be smart, Ha-chama**." She crooned, leaning forward slightly, letting her skin brush against the daggers, leaving scarlet lines of blood as she moved even closer to his stony face. "**Killing me in a temper tantrum over your own humiliation… would not sit well with The King, would it?**" In a flash of red and gold flames, she vanished, only to appear, lounging on another tree branch. "**I happen to hold more favour with him right now.**"

"**Just because you're a slut who uses her body to get what she desires."** He snarled. Shichibi's eyes grew suddenly colder.

"**Tut, tut, Ha-chama.**" She whispered softly, barely audible over the breeze. **"He was not the only one to fall for my bodily … charms, was he?**" it was at this point that she had to disappear again, as five demonic talons had just embedded themselves where she had been. There was an airy chuckle on the wind, and Hachibi whipped his head around, glaring for any place she would appear next. "**Fine, fine, I can see that you're upset"** came the voice from all around. "**But maybe this will ease your pride; the girl is possibly the last of the Seishoujo. Maybe. Or you could just be loosing your touch."** And with a cackle, her presence vanished.

"**Fucker.**" Hachibi snarled.

And with that, he vanished into the darkening forest with a flick of his long, blonde hair.

**Two: Patience**

"I swear to every Kami up there, if you don't get the fuck out of my town right now, I'll force you out."

There was something oddly like déjà vu to him about this situation. The sun beat town on the tiny, almost deserted village. It was high summer, with the remains of cherry blossom shriveling on the cobbled roadsides. Every other person was sheltering inside to avoid heatstroke or sunburn. At least, every other _sane_ person was.

"Excuse me?" he queried, using his best, most polite human tone. After all, he was trying to be discrete after his little prank on Gobi, whom was now hunting his ass down. Hence, he was currently disguised at a human, complete with average traveling clothes and a large shady hat (he would look back on the irony that his future hunters would wear much the same hat). For some reason, despite his formality, the girl standing in his way grew even angrier.

"Don't use that tone with me, bastard!" she yelled at him, stalking towards him to poke him in the chest, hard enough to hurt a normal human. "I get that I haven't seen you for years, but do you seriously not recognize me at all?!"

"Look, if this was about a one night stand that went wrong a couple of years ago, then no, I don't remember you, I won't acknowledge any children and I won't marry you to preserve your honour." He settled his golden gaze on her, fully aware that now she was this close she could see his eyes. Who cared, she'd probably just scream and run away. As long as Gobi didn't somehow hunt him down through her, he didn't mind, it cleared the road.

But she kept glaring, with two mismatched eyes, dark hair and a childish determination that made him think of the time when-

Wait.

Hold on.

Rewind.

"Oh you have _got_ to be shitting me." He swore. There was a sudden triumphant glint to those narrowed eyes.

"Oh, I _shit you not._" She stressed. If possible, she drew even closer.

"You have to be fucking suicidal, to know who I am and still stand in my way like this." He hissed, keeping his voice down.

"And you're pretty fucking stupid for coming here of all places. I don't just banish demons now, you know. I'm older than that." She threatened back. "What are you, stuck on that one human form? Change your hair colour or something, make it so I can only recognize you via aura." She smirked as a self conscious hand went up to touch his hair.

"When I need your amazing styling tips, I'll seek you out." He spat. "I'm sorted for now though, so let me though." He punctuated the last bit by pushing forward, and thus past her. He could practically hear her silent fuming.

"OSUWARI!!" She screeched. Hachibi blinked, saw a flash of something green, and found himself staring at the sky suddenly. A shadow found it's way into his vision, and he glared at the girl standing over him.

"I swear that's copyrighted." He muttered.

"Too bad I don't give a shit, since it works regardless." She grinned down at him. Hachibi silently cursed. He couldn't even see up her skirt.

"I'll be going now." He made to get up, but then felt a sudden heavy weight directly on his chest. He collapsed back onto the street and growled, letting his chakra spike. The girl, now sitting on his chest, grinned at him some more.

"I'll let you go, if you promise to go around the village." She sang in a mocking sort of way. Hachibi felt an eyebrow twitch.

"Fine, just get the fuck off me you damn crazy woman." He snarled. The girl frowned, got up, then sat back down, hard, pushing him to the floor again.

"My name's Karen, and don't swear at me." She said, bringing her face very close to his. The heat must have seriously been getting to him. He could feel how red his cheeks were getting. Stupid human body. "So, I want a name." The demon blinked.

"You could probably guess it." He muttered. "You saw my true form."

"Not your title… your name!" she said, annoyed. Her face wasn't moving any farther or closer to him, but it was still making him hot. And somewhat uncomfortable.

"Ha…" he started to say, but then realized that he had never given himself a name before. He had been Hachibi since he had gained his eighth tail to match his eight heads. Hastily, he made something up on the spot. "Hakkei."

"As in 'Eight Wonders?' Gods, you're big headed." And with that she jumped off him, skipping merrily to the spot where she had started. "I'm gonna watch you and make sure you go round this village. Don't think I won't tell that you're in there if you are!"

Hakkei snorted. "Whatever, stupid girl."

"It's _Karen!_" she stressed in an annoyed tone. But he was gone.

**Three: Meaning**

Hakkei, no, Hachibi did not know when being a demon began to lose it's meaning, but he knew it had something to do with that infuriating, annoying, beautiful, woman.

For once again he found himself back in that town for the umpteenth time, or rather outside of it, simply waiting for her to show up. He didn't know if he was a masochist or if something was deeply wrong with him, but the second he caught a glimpse of her, wearing that simple yet beautiful summer kimono he had given her for her birthday the year before, he felt something inside him get lighter, warmer, happier.

He knew that for her too, the meaning of being the last Seishoujo was beginning to become an undefined abstract. It couldn't be easy, when her inbred instincts were screaming at her to exorcise him on the spot.

He could really relate.

"Hakkei!" came her happy call. A passing villager looked over his shoulder and smiled. It seemed that he had passed the silent demon without noticing him. Which, of course, was the point of the mild genjutsu he had cast.

"Ah, Hakkei-san, you've returned again." He was an elderly man, whom had apparently just returned from his harvesting in the orchards. It was nearing the end of fall. "Here, my treat!" Hakkei easily caught the newly plucked apple, biting into it. With a nod, the merchant took this as thanks and kept on his way, waving cheerfully to Karen as she passed. She skidded to a stop in front of the demon man, mismatched eyes gleaming with excitement and something he couldn't quite identify. Admiration?

"Sup, midget." He smirked from underneath his hat. Karen pouted, then kicked him in the shin; which seemed to have become a tradition. This time, though, Hakkei was prepared.

"Ow!!" she yelped, hopping on one foot while cradling her other one. She sat down roughly on the ground, nursing it better. "What the-" Hakkei chose this moment to lift up his trouser legs and reveal two, shiny new shin guards. He'd nicked them from a ninja that pissed him off, not that he would tell her that.

Wait, since when did he care what she thought of him?

"Damn you, conniving devil." She muttered various other curses under her breath. Hakkei was too busy grinning cockily at her to notice that she was slowly gaining an evil grin of her own.

"Not too far from the truth, but not quite ri-AAAAAIIIEEEET!" he shrieked in a rather un-manly way, which was embarrassing in itself, but not nearly as embarrassing as it was as Karen grabbed his hair and pulled it, consequently bringing his head down to her level. Then, just to add to the head trauma, she brought her fist down on the top of his hat as well, which was also askew due to him being tugged so suddenly. "Ow ow ow ow!! Let go, crazy woman!" he yelled, but tried not to struggle. Hell forbid that his hair get messed up. That would just be ten different kinds of bad.

"Serves you right for being so tall!" she crowed, finally letting go of his precious locks with a giant grin. She laughed outright when Hakkei began combing his hands through his hair worriedly. He gave her a sulky glare, then smirked.

"Fine then, no birthday present for you this year. Which is a shame, since I brought it along…" it was so amusing to watch her face go from amusement, to shock, to amazed, to pleading in the amount of time it took for him to finish his sentence.

"Oh, oh, what is it?!" she squeaked excitedly, jumping up and dancing around the man. She tugged on his sleeve like a child, grinning like she was six.

Well, when she was six, all she had done towards him was glare.

"Well, I dunno, you're being kind of mean to me, so I guess, I'll just have to keep it… since you don't want it…" Oh yeah, he was definitely evil; this was clearly pure torture for her. But then she pulled out the big guns. It wasn't fair, how much of an advantage she had over him just by being born the way she was.

After all, when those two big mismatched eyes welled up like that, even Lucifer would probably be hard pressed to resist.

Okay, maybe not. But Hakkei felt his willpower being sapped away.

"Oh fine, just stop with the face." He grunted, ignoring her triumphant shout of glee. He rifled around in his pack, with her hovering around, practically bouncing with joy. He decided to take especially long, just because there was not a knot in his hair, but eventually produced a small black box. The girl looked slightly disappointed.

"Look _inside_ the box, dummy." He smirked. Karen shot him a look that clearly said 'I know that, don't treat me like a kid'. She pounced on it, and then slowly opened it.

There was a long silence, before she stumbled back slightly. Her back hit the wall of a nearby house, and she gasped, her eyes fixated on the object in the box. With a shaking hand, she pulled out a long, golden necklace, the pendant attached shone in the sunlight. It was a bright yellow Jasper crystal, but one with a strange black spike disrupting it. To any jeweler it would be worthless, but the way it glittered made it look like a cat's eye.

Like Hakkei's eyes.

"Oh," Karen finally breathed. "Oh, Hakkei, it's beautiful…" she seemed at a loss for words, and Hakkei savored the moment.

"Always watching." He said finally. Her eyes snapped up to him, her mouth half open in shock. Gently, he reached out and nudged it closed. He kept his hand under her chin, however. "Always with you." It was a promise. One he'd been planning for months. Now he just needed… "Always together, through time and space, life and death, hell and heaven."

And then he kissed her.

**Four: Time**

Before, Hakkei had found counting years and days pointless. Time was time, it moved, that was it. As a demon, he could actually live separately from time, though that involved turning into a purer form of chakra than what he was made of already.

But as a human, he had to live inside time. Which meant aging. Which meant, in the long run, dying. If demons did not return to hell once every half century, they lost their powers. The longer he left it off, the more painful it would be when he did go back.

He knew his excuse for not turning up for meetings was running thin by now. Gobi was a slightly more forgiving bijuu, surprisingly, mostly because she could see when they were truly sorry. Not that Hakkei ever regretted what he did. She really should like the colour pink more, considering she's a girl.

His girl wasn't a big fan of pink though. She'd stand it, but eventually go for greens, blues and blacks. Good. He hated pink.

He was missing the point, which was this; his time here was running out.

He should have been less surprised then, when the man who had always been so kind to him and Karen, the apple merchant, died suddenly in the night, while out on his farm.

Dead. By claw marks.

Time was running out very, very fast. Much too fast for his liking.

It was the run up to a thing he had dreaded since the moment he identified the emotion he had always felt around Karen. This strange thing called love that had somehow demolished the monster he had once been. That he technically, but only technically, still was.

Karen had noticed his paranoia, how he didn't want to let her leave the house without him, or go anywhere he didn't deem safe. He dismissed it as worrying about that same animal attack (which was semi-true, it just wasn't an animal he was worried about) but she always managed to get away from him.

"Always watching, right?" she said softly to him, one night. Wearing the necklace he had given her was important. He wasn't kidding when he said he was always watching. That jewel was connected to Karen's emotions, from the moment she put it on. It wasn't particularly strong, Hakkei could barely feel it most of the time. It was just the extreme emotions.

It made sex especially fun.

Mind out of the gutter, Hakkei, focus.

He knew, the second he felt that flutter of excitement that obviously had nothing to do with the vegetables he was chopping for dinner, that Karen was up to something. What, he had no idea. He tried to look as innocent as possible when she came home grinning that grin that lit up the room. Like that wasn't excuse enough to kiss her.

And if it wasn't, a few days later, he found something that definitely was.

"Happy birthday Hakkei!" was his greeting as he walked in the door on June 12th. It wasn't a particularly interesting date. Why was today his birthday?

"I don't have a birthday, dummy." He said, blinking at the streamers and neatly laid table with his favourite steak dish (he liked it rare, she liked it medium-well done) sitting happily in the center. Without answering him, Karen produced a small black box…

Woah, role reversal.

Hakkei carefully took the box, glanced at Karen's beaming face, then opened it.

A tiny glass pendant, hung on a light silver chain. It was half blue and half green, each colour intermingling with the other where they met in the middle. And slap bang in the center, was a tiny black blob, a circle, just like the black shard that was in Karen's necklace.

"Hakkei." She said finally. "We're always gonna be together like this right?" He nodded mutely. She blushed heavily, a shade that he had not seen in years. "Good… because well…" He waited.

"I'm… pregnant."

Hakkei, for the first time in centuries, was stunned into absolute silence.

He settled for giving her the biggest kiss he had in him. The eventually drew apart, breathless, and without a word, Karen clipped the new gift behind his neck. They shared a smile that they reserved only for each other, just before the world exploded.

**Five: Yourself**

Having one's tails ripped off, spiritually as well as physically, was probably the most unexplainably painful experience of his existence.

When they said "Stripped of powers" they really did mean it.

He knew the court's judgment would be so. Lucifer would not stand for one of his demons to love a human. It was practically in the definition of demons to hate and slaughter the human race in general. Loving one would lead to loving others, which would lead to loving all of them, in which case they might as well be those namby pamby angels (now, it is at this point that Hakkei hastened to add that some angels were certainly not namby pamby in any way and had in fact kicked his ass many times. He had nothing against them; he was just doing his job. Haha. Obedience alibi rocked.)

He could no longer even scream, none of him could. He was being slowly ripped apart, each head and each tail, his perspectives blinking out as he lost them. It was fine, they were separate beings once, he didn't have to worry about them dying, but it was the most frightening thing in the world to suddenly be all alone in his head.

The silence, as they say, was deafening.

But through it all, he could feel a different fear. One that radiated from the necklace around his neck still. It apparently was irremovable for anyone by Karen, which had done him no favors in the courtroom (possession of a holy item? Come on man, would the angels let off someone holding Lucifer's staff?) It was Karen's fear, palpable, but not fear for herself; fear for him.

He did not deserve such a thing.

He thanked every lucky star he had that this binding was not two-way. He did not need Karen experiencing the torture of having the fabric of one's soul ripped apart.

By the time blissful unconsciousness claimed him, it was not his own panic that he felt at his vision tunneling, but Karen's terror at something entirely different.

Shichibi was in the house.

And Karen was going into labor.

Three months early.

-------

It took him what he assumed to be the equivalent of three years in the human world to escape hell.

By him, he could really only mean one eighth of him. He had no idea what they'd done with his tails, the rest of him, but at the moment he didn't care.

So help him, if shichibi did not hold up her end of the bargain…

The complete silence from his necklace was not the most reassuring of things.

Still, he had to see, had to know. This lead him back to the village, that tiny, insignificant village where everything for him had changed, in the middle of winter. The rain was half frozen, and his human form unrecognizable. It would take forever to grow his hair back; all he had left of it now was a slightly spiked up mass, smoothing as it got to the back of his head. It hung limply by his neck, a symbol of his loss in status. Not that anyone would ever take the position of Hachibi again. There was only ever going to be one of him.

And there would only be one of her.

There was a single stand still open. He let out a long breath, letting the steamed up air in front of him blow away in the frozen wind before going over.

"Excuse me, would there happen to be a woman called Karen in this village?" He knew his usual large hat was hiding his face, so at least the villager wouldn't be too freaked by his appearance.

"Hm?" said the shopkeeper, blowing on his fingers to keep them warm. He seemed to be in his late forties. "There was a girl here a while ago… ah, I remember I had a crush on her. A pretty bad one at that. Course, I was eight at the time, and everyone had a crush on her at that age." He chuckled heartily, not seeing the way Hakkei's eyes were widening steadily beneath his hat as he did the simple math. "You didn't get any chance with her though, had a boyfriend, big buff guy at that. Practically radiated menace, loved her dearly though." He shook his head. "To bad about the illness, ended up in Konoha hospital, last I heard of her."

"Sir." Hakkei finally said, in barely a whisper. "Might I ask how old you are?"

"Fifty two, my fine lad, a whole half century, and proud of it!" he chuckled heartily to himself, before noticing his customer had disappeared.

That same man was breaking several laws of physics in his haste to get to the Land of Fire.

He stood, a whole 170 miles later, in front of a small grave.

One with his name carved onto it. Right next to hers.

**Six: Sanity**

By the time anyone sane had even found him, Hakkei had gone way too far off the deep end.

Nobody dared to go up into the mountain anymore. There were rumours flying about a beast so fearsome that it could kill you with a single look of its golden eyes. That if you did not die from that, it would pin you to a tree using it's inhuman claws and slowly tear you apart. Some even said that is was the demon Hachibi, in all of it's glory, simply playing with its victims instead of unleashing it's fury on the entire town.

They were half right about the last one.

He saw everything through a red haze these days. Every now and again he would snap to his senses, huddle away in a cave, but then some idiot would come, poke him, label him dead, and an uncontrollable rage would build from nowhere.

He wasn't dead. Neither was she. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't.

If she was actually dead, then why was Hakkei still breathing, when he couldn't live without her?

The frosty chill of winter had settled like a blanket of death over the mountain side. Nobody came up for fear of slipping to their deaths, and of course fear of him. The birds were silent, flown to warmer places. The animals were asleep, or else hidden away from the merciless frozen wind.

It was quite a surprise then, for Hakkei, to sense someone in his territory.

Feral or not, Hakkei wasn't stupid. Collection of wards surrounded what he dubbed as his territory. They told him exactly how far into the cave he had to seek in order not to be discovered. Some people were just stupid, this was true, but it minimized the casualties by as much as he could.

He became slightly concerned however, when the presence stopped moving.

For quite a while.

It had better go, or it would bug him forever.

After half an hour, he decided to go and check. He didn't know what was coming over him, but excused it as likely a dead bird or something, meaning he could have a snack. With speed not applicable to a human, he silently dashed down the mountain, his feet leaving only the slightest of imprints in the snow. He easily found the human tracks (there went the idea of a snack, but he still did not turn back.) and followed them with caution and grace to the presence. If they weren't alive, then it was of not danger to him; he wouldn't go mad if they didn't say anything.

But it was he who was struck speechless as he gazed as what he saw.

---

The girl slowly opened her eyes, then snapped them shut again. The fire in front of her glowed brightly, hurting her sensitive eyes. So much for not collapsing-

But she had collapsed. So why was she in a cave?

She sat bolt upright, and immediately regretted it. With a groan, she reached an arm up to her aching shoulders, rolling them to try and get them to wake up and unstiffen.

"I wouldn't move if I were you."

The sudden, deep voice startled her, and she let out a little squeak. For the first time, she noticed the figure standing halfway into the shadows. A dirty yellow hakama and half kimono top identified him as definitely human, but his hair was long, flowing down his back and, despite his obvious ill hygiene, perfectly kept, shimmering in the fire light. His face was hidden by the shadows, but she could be sure he was male. One did not have a voice that deep without a lot of testosterone. She made to say something, to thank him, but he started talking before her.

"Don't." he said quickly, almost as soon as she began to move her mouth. "Don't talk. When people talk…" he trailed off, then turned his head away, his long hair swinging and catching the light, glittering like white gold. She secretly let herself be a little envious of it, her own jet-black hair being nothing remarkable.

She nodded mutely to him, hoping he would see despite his face being turned away.

"It wasn't smart to come up here you know." He started playing with a lock of his own hair, twirling it absently between his fingers. "You haven't heard the rumours of the monster on this mountain have you." She could tell he was watching her for a reaction. She made no moves. The fire flickered silently between them. "Or did you just come up here because you have a death wish." His sentence ended in a hiss that sounded all too natural in his voice.

"I came to find you."

The man stiffened considerably, as if waiting for something. A whole minute passed before he relaxed slightly.

"Well, would you look at that, I've never found someone I've not killed the second they spoke before." He waited again for her reaction, but she stared at the place where she assumed his eyes would be. "Though I suppose you're always an exception… Karen."

Golden eyes, previously closed, snapped open to lock with mismatched green and blue.

**Seven: Bets**

"I fucking hate you right now, you know." Said a grumpy Hakkei as they waited in what appeared to be an average front room. The two were sprawled on the comfortable sofa, Hakkei scratching his head in an annoyed way.

"There now, Hakkei, what did I say about the swearing thing?" the girl next to him admonished lightly. Hakkei gave a snort of derision. "This place will mean you'll be a lot safer. They're the ones who sent me to look for you anyway." At this, Hakkei grunted. "I bet you'll grow to like it."

"We're fine on our own. I can protect us." He mumbled like a scolded child. The dark haired girl made a grab for his hair, but with practiced ease he shifted his head, smirking at her.

The smirk vanished when she kicked him in the shin.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his injured leg and glaring at her. She grinned at him mischievously. "See, now that was very Karen of you."

"I'm sure, but I've said it before and I'll say it again; I'm not your dead girlfriend. My name is Sairai." She knew she was being unnecessarily harsh, but he needed to get it through his head that she was not who he thought in his little delusions. Even if she kicked him about like he said she once did, even if she looked identical, she wasn't her.

But the kicked puppy look was almost enough to get her to say she was so he stopped.

The two girls that walked though the door saved her.

"Hi there!" chirped the taller girl, dark chocolate hair messy like she hadn't brushed it in days. Her eyes, golden but not quite to the degree of Hakkei's, flickered over them in analysis. "Which of you is the jinchuuriki?"

"Imi-san." Came a quiet but firm voice. Eyes traveled to the tiny eight year old girl carrying a file, her odd black and white striped hair falling over her earthy brown eyes and dark skin. "Not so bluntly, please." The taller girl had the grace to look sheepish, but still turned an expectant gaze on the two. Hakkei gave an annoyed snort and raised his hand.

"Isn't that a little obvious?" he grumbled, indicating his pointed ears and snake eyes. Imi just shrugged.

"I dunno, sometimes the guardians are weirder than the jinchuuriki themselves." She grinned down at the smaller girl, who rolled her eyes just slightly. "This is Shan, my helper and jinchuuriki of the Rokubi." Shan gave a polite bow, still managing to balance the file so that nothing fell out. Her eyes snapped straight into Hakkei's own once she straightened, and he saw a tell tale flash of green there.

"You're the Hachibi." She stated simply. Imi gave her a disapproving look.

"Now, Shan, you mean he's the _jinchuuriki_ of the Hachibi." But Shan shook her head. Hakkei's eyes widened. How did she… oh, of course. Rokubi knew this kind of shit.

"No, the being in front of us has never been sealed." Immediately the two dark haired girls stared at him with widened eyes. Hakkei growled in warning. "He was stripped of his powers and cast into the world in human form." Hakkei was about to launch himself at the little brat to shut her mouth, but a gentle hand landed on his own clenched fist. Mismatched eyes stared questioningly into his own.

"Hakkei, is this true?" she asked. "You're not just a jinchuuriki, you're the demon itself?" her voice held no quiver of fear, but was almost a plea to tell her the truth. Hakkei sighed.

"Yeah, it's true." He played with a lock of his hair with his free hand. A nervous habit. "I was stripped of my powers for falling in love with a human." At this he gave a pointed look to Sairai. Her eyes widened slightly. "My other tails are sentient though, I reckon they were cast into this world as well. I didn't bother finding them though; they're probably sealed by now. Nothing more than lesser demons unless they find me. I'm the main consciousness." He added, noting the calculating look on Imi's face.

"Would you be planning to take your tails back?" she asked slowly. Hakkei nodded.

"I do find myself wanting them." He muttered. "Really lonely up here without them." He tapped his head and grinned toothily at them. Shan let her file slam on the table with a pointed look at them all.

"I should like to finish this paperwork, if you would." She said, but Imi was still looking thoughtful.

"I think I know where some of them are…" at this, Hakkei perked up, wide eyed. But Imi had a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "But you'll have to join us first."

Hakkei's pen was on that paper faster than you could say "gimmie my tails".

He subsequently lost that bet.

**Eight: Life**

Life was a funny old thing, Hakkei supposed. It had an odd tendency to both start and end when one was not expecting it.

The long black spike stuck in his gut didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Getting his soul ripped apart had been a far more painful experience, this couldn't even compare.

But he couldn't find anything more painful than the way Sairai was looking at him right now.

Despair that deep shouldn't be etched into someone's face like that. Especially not someone with a face as beautiful as hers. It wasn't even despair for her own situation, though it should be, as she was currently being held hostage by one of that insolent little brat's puppet corpses. That was all that had made him falter, that had made him hesitate, and how he was in this little mess. Not that this hadn't gone somewhat according to plan.

He decided it was time to do his thing.

"Pitiful fool!" he cried, laughing at the man that claimed himself to be a God. He'd seen gods, he wasn't it. His ringed eyes widened at him from under orange coloured bangs. Hakkei allowed his laugh to gain a sense of malice as he felt the inevitable pull from all sides.

His tails were being pulled back to him.

It was small, whispers at first. Then a roar of delighted wrathful hisses in his ears as his laugh rose in pitch. Even when the spike was pulled out and the blood gushed forth, he could not stop laughing. The power, the rush of it, the energy. This was what he had been searching for, what he had been waiting all these years for. He could hear the screams of the girl one of them was still attached to, Void he remembered it was, and in an act of mercy reached out to that tail in particular and gave it an especially hard yank. The scream was cut abruptly short, and Hakkei didn't know or care if she was dead or not.

No, not Hakkei.

Hachibi.

The Yamata no Orochi.

The snake demon with eight heads and an indefinable amount of chakra, the shamed and newly reborn king of all serpents, the demon lord Lucifer's aide, second only to the Kyuubi in power-

"Hakkei, no!"

The anguished cry sounded far off, like his rush of power was drowning it out. It occurred to him vaguely that this was the voice of someone important.

"Hakkei!! Don't lose yourself Hakkei!"

He head ached, the tails hissing and spitting at the voice. He covered his ears and tried to sort out his jumbled up thoughts. There was a burning pain in his stomach, and he couldn't remember why.

"I LOVE YOU!!"

There was a gasp, and something hot and wet slid down his cheek. He lifted a claw tipped hand (hand? He had human hands?) up to the moisture. Water. Salty by the smell. A tear. His tear.

He was crying.

He was bleeding.

And now he was remembering.

He looked round, eyes skimming over the crater that was formed around him. In the distance he vaguely registered a scream of pain and horror, but his attention gravitated to one person.

Sairai.

He blinked at her. Then gave her the biggest, most triumphant grin he could manage. Her relief showed on her face as tears spilled over and a smile spread on her face. The one that lit up the whole room. The world was suddenly crystal clear to him.

And it was in that crystal clarity that he witnessed the knife's slow decent into Sairai's heart.

Her smile froze on her face as the puppet body let her go, her legs going limp and her body falling to the side. Tears glittered as they fell though the air, and Hakkei was frozen to the ground in complete shock.

With a dull finality to the sound, Sairai's body hit the floor with a thud that resounded in his ears like it was mocking his failure.

He'd failed again.

The next few seconds passed in a haze of red so deep that he could not tell if it was the puppet's blood or just his hate clouding his vision. He knew rather than saw the murderer's death, along with the four other bodies that had come to restrain him. Like they had a hope in hell.

And that was where they would be going.

Fast.

Amidst pools of blood he regained himself. Miraculously, he had managed to not get any on Sairai. As his attention returned to her, he noticed her fingers twitching. In a flash of speed, he was by her side, cradling her in his arms. He clutched her hand, limp and feeble, as though trying to will the life back into her.

"Sairai… Sairai!" He knew he sounded pathetic, but if there was event he smallest chance she was alive…

"Stop… that… you idiot." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, but she gave his trembling hand a weak squeeze. "Don't start… crying over… me… again." Her breath was coming in wet gasps, and Hakkei's logical brain told him that her lungs were filling with fluid. His eyes felt hot.

"Sairai, you can't… not again." Unbidden, the tears made their way down his cheeks anyway. "Don't go…" A cold hand touched his cheek, wiping away the tears. It fell back onto her chest, it's strength spent on that single move.

"You… will wait… for me… right?" she smiled weakly, but her eyes were unfocusing, the pupils becoming too big, consuming the colours of her eyes. "For… the next life… again…"

"Of… of course…" Hakkei whispered. Sairai smiled, and whispered back, so quietly that Hakkei had to lean even closer to hear her.

"My… pocket… look." She drew in a shuddering breath, and Hakkei quickly reached inside the pocket of her skirt that looked like it contained something.

He pulled out a necklace, with a flawed jasper stone in it.

"You knew…" He gasped. A smile flickered on her lips slightly. "All this time… you did remember." He drew in a shuddering breath, even though the tears didn't stop. "You wanted me to love you anyway, didn't you. Wanted me to stop clinging to the past." He buried his face in her chest. "Damn you… fucking damn all of this…"

"No… swearing…" she breathed. And then she didn't.

The world trembled with the force of the Hachibi's rage.

And the sky began to cry for them.

**Bonus: One thing to Gain**

It was ten years after the Red Dawn War, as it had been dubbed. The world was in a peaceful new age. Villages had gained new bonds, such as the one between Konoha's Rokudaime Hokage and Suna's Godaime Kazekage. There were new jinchuuriki, but at the very whisper of mistreatment there would be three or four others to defend them in the blink of an eye. The balance of power was stable, everything seemed right with the world.

It was only the veterans of the war that recalled the sorrow and sacrifices made for this beautiful new world.

Imi mused on this as she gazed out of the window of the Raikage's office. She wished she had Shan around to help with paperwork, but she had become the personal attendant to the Earth Daimyo (a good friend of hers by now, she had been told) and thus Imi was stuck here.

"Get out of my seat, Imi-san." Came the threatening growl from the doorway. Imi jumped up with a sheepish look as the real Raikage came though the door.

"Eheheh, morning Yugito-chan!" she chuckled embarrassedly. Yugito rolled her eyes, then smiled softly at her friend.

"What were you thinking about? I can't sneak up on you otherwise." Imi shrugged and went back to looking out at the rolling thunderclouds. It was only for Yugito's sake that she even stayed here. Stupid dreary place.

"Just about the war." She watched at Yugito's hand absently drifted up to rest of the faded remains of the seal on her neck. Her eyes darkened slightly.

"Specifically?" she asked. Imi glanced down at the papers.

"You know, there've been reports of a mysterious man protecting the villages all around the country." Yugito raised her eyebrows at Imi.

"I fail to see how this pertains to what we were talking about." She said. Imi gave her a look.

"Let me finish." She huffed. When Yugito was silent, she nodded. "The thing is, he shows up at every village that is under threat of bandit attack or anything like that." She waved a bit of paper in the air. "But look at this. One moment he's just north of wind country, and a day later, he's in water country." Yugito's eyes widened and she snatched the paper from her. Imi smiled softly. "And you know what else?" Yugito blinked at her.

"He matches the description of someone we both knew very well."

Yugito crossed over to her chair, spinning it around so she had a good view of the village. The two woman smiled. "That's a nice way to pass the time waiting for her…" Imi commented, her grin spreading, even as the first splatters of rain made themselves known.

"I'm sure Sairai would be proud." Whispered Yugito.


End file.
